7. Hudson

Chapter Seven

HUDSON

After I set the last box on the floor against the wall, where Stella directed me, I turned to face her, resting my hands on my hips. “Anything else to carry?” I asked.

Stella stared up at me. Her brown eyes were wide. She blinked before her tongue darted out to slide across her bottom lip.

Fuck me . Stella was too freaking cute. A revving sensation sizzled through my body. I was going to have to get a grip. At the moment, I was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. It would not be cool for her to notice my cock was at half-mast.

She cleared her throat but didn’t say anything.

“Stella?” I prompted.

“Oh! That was the last box.”

“Is that all you have?” I couldn’t help but ask. I’d helped her carry maybe eight boxes inside. “If you need me to follow you back to your place with my truck, I’m happy to help,” I offered.

Her curls swung as she shook her head. “That’s it. I don’t have a lot of stuff.”

We happened to be standing by the wall with a waist-high wall on the other side flanking the staircase that came into the center of the main room. Because Stella had asked me to stack the boxes against the other wall, there wasn’t much space. She began to turn and her foot caught on the edge of a box.

She let out a soft, “Oof!” when she stumbled.

I reflexively reached for her. Her momentum flung her against me. She was a lush bundle of softness when she bumped into my chest. Her cheeks went pink and her eyes wide.

Holy hell. She felt so fucking good. In the muddle when she tripped, my hand landed just above the curve of her bottom. She was fully pressed against me. I could even feel the taut little peaks of her nipples.

Without a doubt, I knew she could also feel the swell of my cock. The thread of my control was almost to its breaking point.

I couldn’t seem to move, and the moment stretched like elastic between us. My eyes dropped to her mouth, noticing that her lips were parted and her breath was coming in soft heaves. Her tongue darted out again, sliding in slow motion across her bottom lip. Her lips were fucking perfect. When she smiled, it was a little lopsided with one dimple peeking out first. The flush on her cheeks deepened.

“Stella…” I heard myself rasp. My fingers pressed into the sweet curve of her bottom, and I couldn’t help but bring her a little closer.

“Hudson…” she whispered, the throaty sound of her voice like a jolt of lightning sizzling through me.

I sucked in a breath, scrambling for some kind of sanity. “Can I kiss you?”

The part of my mind that could still think, that was still slightly rational, was absolutely positive she would tell me to back the hell off. Kissing her before was reckless, but now she lived upstairs.

She didn’t say anything. I felt her lean closer just before the hot shock of her lips met mine. It was like a clap of thunder followed by lightning, an electric jolt to my entire system. I groaned and slid a hand into her hair as I fit my mouth over hers.

Stella made this little sound in the back of her throat that nearly brought me to my knees. When she pressed herself even closer, I felt one of her hands slip around my back. I kissed her as if my life depended on it. Her tongue slipped out, gliding against mine.

I had no idea how long we kissed. All I knew was I was hard and hot. The length of me was swollen to the point of pain by the time we broke apart and stared at each other.